Thursday, January 19, 2012

Scattered Thanksgiving Pictures

I'm a couple months late for this post and now I have quite a bit to catch up on.  The only reason I am able to post this even now is that I uploaded these pictures and started this post over a month ago, so I'm just finishing it up now.  Rather than trying to catch up on everything before moving forward, I'll try and intersperse a few walks down memory lane amid future blog posts.

We did a terrible job of getting pictures of Thanksgiving, but my sister-in-law, Liz, got a ton of great ones that I may at some point find the chance to download from facebook and post on here (if it's okay with her!) but for now, here is a little bit from our trip to Boston for Thanksgiving:

We were so happy to be with all of Dave's family for the holiday - it was a somewhat unexpected opportunity for everyone to get together, as we hadn't originally been planning on going anywhere for Thanksgiving because of all the extra work that traveling requires (extra work on top of a daily life that already stretches us quite a bit).  But in the end we were able to work things out so that we could be there, and though it was a lot of work, and our kids (ahem, Leah.) are not great travelers, or great sleepers in strange places (Leah, again), we were grateful to be able to be there.

We had a pack and play set up for him in an adjoining room, but it didn't work out too well the first night because he and Leah took turns crying through the night and waking each other up, so Dallin got moved into our room where he slept soundly in a suitcase!

A delicious breakfast (if Leah looks tired it's because she cried MOST of the night before.  Literally.  The poor girl really had a rough time adjusting on this trip.  We - Leah, Dave and I -went home and took a much-needed nap after this).

Leah and Grandma!


Concord


Leah and her Uncle Frank

...and now Dad and Dallin, too!





Leah and Aunt Liz





With Uncle Conrad (and Aunt Jen in the background)


With Uncle Frank again

LOVE her smile

She was so happy to run all around (as always)



She didn't know what to make of all the leaves and long grass that she fell into.  Instead of standing back up, she slowly backed her way out of it by scooting.  

Catching some zzz's



In front of the Boston temple (Leah was impossible to get a good picture with).

Can you spot her?





Again...that smile!

Curt and his then-fiance, now wife, Lorie



Sitting in a rocking chair made by Leah's Great-grandfather for her Aunt Liz




Happy Birthday, Dave!

Enough can't be said about him.  

I learn everyday from his selflessness, sensitivity, tender heart, and patience.  

He works so hard (both in his job and at home) to take care of his family and never complains at the trying schedule he maintains.

Rather than feeling tied down by two little ones who prevent us from getting out and doing much, he takes joy in our slightly repetitive but very hectic daily life and shows enthusiasm over small things like family trips to Target or the grocery store.

He has a true servant's heart.   

There's no one I enjoy being with more than him.

Happy Birthday!

I love you.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Another Leah moment

Every morning I feed Dallin and then bring him in with me to get Leah out of her crib.  I lay them both on the floor of Leah's room side by side so they can interact with each other while I change Leah's diaper and clothes.  As soon as Leah is dressed and ready to go, she is off and running while I get Dallin changed and ready.  One Sunday morning as I was changing him, I heard Leah in Dallin's room making a noise she makes whenever she is urgently trying to communicate with us.  I don't even know how to describe it here except that it involves her nose and what I believe may be the epiglottis.  Anyway, she was very persistently making this noise and it was getting louder and louder, sounding more and more urgent, so I finally left Dallin half-dressed to go see what she was up to.  I found her like this:



She had found a treasure trove of Dallin's pacifiers underneath his crib and had crawled under there to grab them, but couldn't figure out how to crawl back out.  Crazy kiddo :)

(After taking the pictures, I did finally offer my assistance to get her out from under the crib)

Precious Moments

Before I get too behind with all of the pictures that I'm sure I'll be taking (or I better be taking!) over Christmas, I wanted to share a few small moments from life lately here in our little corner of the world.  Days (and nights!) continue to be busy, busy, busy, often leaving us feeling like we don't have much time to pause and catch a breath.  We were recently trying to remember the last time we sat down and watched an entire movie...and we honestly couldn't remember.  We think there may have been one or two when Dallin was around a month old, but, again, we can't remember.  So somehow these two little kiddos manage to keep us on our toes round the clock, and they certainly wear us out, but we love it. We have our moments (especially when we're particularly sleep-deprived), but we wouldn't have life any other way.  We're grateful for the exhaustion because it comes from the privilege of caring for two very beautiful, special little souls.

One night as we were getting Leah ready for bed, Dave and I got preoccupied with a conversation we were having and suddenly realized Leah was no longer in the room with us.  We called for her - no answer.  We looked all over the upstairs - no Leah.  We heard something downstairs and found her as seen below, typing away very excitedly, very happily on Dave's computer, something that is normally off limits and kept out of reach, but had been temporarily moved to accommodate visitors.  She couldn't believe her luck that the computer was at such easy access and she was going to take advantage of that as much as possible!



We also have this on video...she would type for a bit, then pause to point and talk to the screen (all of this with an amazing amount of enthusiasm).  At one point, she went to the chair behind her and picked up the mouse you see below to bring it over with the computer.  We let her continue playing like this for a few more minutes before bringing her fun to end before bed.

A very, very rare moment: Leah fell asleep in the car after spending a few hours getting family pictures taken.

Helping around the house: Leah stayed close by both me and Dave as we rearranged a lot of furniture in the house.

Sometimes she would join right in and help, grunts, groans and all!  I really could feel her putting her back into it - surprisingly, she really was a help in moving this bookshelf!


Waiting to be taken out of her crib (she will often play for quite awhile in her crib either before going to sleep or when waking up...or sometimes she'll just play away her entire naptime without sleeping at all, at which point we call it "quiet time".  I really wish I had a video camera in there to see what she is doing)


Just before bedtime: I love these pajamas my mom sent for Leah


Lest you think we've forgotten about him, here's our sweet boy!  He's 5 and a half months old, and is slowly getting better at sleeping and napping.  He has good and bad days, but for the last week or so he has been taking pretty good naps every day.  I'm not holding my breath, but it sure looks hopeful!

 He is SUCH a happy little guy, content (for the most part) to watch his sister in all her hurrying around.  He eats up any attention we give him and gives such excited squeals when we pick him up and hug him.  He loves being roughed up a lot more than Leah ever did and seems older and older every day.  He has recently started rice cereal - he wasn't sure what he thought of it at first, but the last couple days has been more excited about it.  I guess I'll be giving a more thorough description of him in a couple weeks when he turns 6 months, but I didn't want this post to be all about Leah.  We love this little bug, too! He is such a joy to have in our family, and we all love him!




Chilling with Dad as he prepares for Family Home Evening:


Coming up....Thanksgiving!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Bonus day!

Dallin took TWO solid naps today!!  Dare I hope that he'll grow out of the "3 15 minute cat naps a day" schedule???  We've got Christmas vacation around the corner, so that will blow away any consistent sleep pattern he may be falling into now...but we can still celebrate today, can't we???

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Short (hopefully) hiatus

My computer recently called it quits so until further notice, I'll be taking a blogging break due to limited access to my photos. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!